SYDNEY LIVING MUSEUMS

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Visitors in the front yard at Meroogal

Large gathering in garden around wooden house, surrounded by white picket fence.

Meroogal. Photo © James Horan for Sydney Living Museums

Exhibition

Meroogal Women’s Art Prize 2018 exhibition

Meroogal

The 2018 Meroogal Women's Art Prize exhibition has now closed

You can view a list of the winners on this page, along with an image gallery of all the finalists’ art works. Sign up to our eNews to keep updated on what’s happening at Meroogal and our other houses and museums.

The Meroogal Women’s Art Prize celebrates the creativity and achievements of female artists across NSW, and pays tribute to the four generations of women from the Thorburn and Macgregor families who lived at Meroogal in Nowra for almost 100 years.

The work of 35 female artists is exhibited in the historic house of Meroogal and its garden and grounds, throwing new light on the stories of the people who lived there and the house’s rich collection of objects.

Take a guided tour of the house and exhibition, vote for your favourite artwork in the People’s Choice Awards and leave your mark on the progressive 'Water picnic' outdoor installation.

2018 PRIZE WINNERS

1st Prize: $7000, SLM membership, and a Bundanon Trust artist-in-residence scholarship

Tamara Dean, Transience, photograph

Transience depicts the ever-present, ever-changing play of light and shadow across the house. Judge Lisa Havilah commented: ‘Tamara has perfectly captured the changing beauty and histories of Meroogal. The shadow cast by banksia rose so beautifully represents the interconnectedness of the house and its gardens’.

2nd Prize: $3000 and SLM membership

Kim Davies, Carpet moth, hessian, cotton fabric, woollen and cotton yarn, wire, upholstery tacks

Carpet moth pays tribute to the industriousness of the people who lived here, and to the role of the museum, attempting to still the corruption of time, dust and moths so that we may glance back into the women’s everyday lives.

Highly Commended Award: SLM membership and solo exhibition opportunity at Shoalhaven Regional Gallery, Nowra

Beth Norling, not all things are washed away, soap, ink

Alluding to the loss of the family’s possessions in a devastating 1860 flood at Terara, this work depicts objects that remain at Meroogal and imagines the moments that are forever gone.

$500 and SLM membership. The People’s Choice Award will be announced at the International Women’s Day awards ceremony held at Meroogal in March 2019.

List of finalists

Kath Fries
Zuza Zochowski
Tamara Dean
Cathy Ball
Wendy Miller
Mary van den Berk
Tania Maria Mastroianni
Lisa Maris McDonell
Terhi Hakola
Wendy Sharpe
Beth Norling
Robyn Bannon
Penny Sadubin
Kim Davies
Judith Martinez
Liz Clark
Megan Dixon-Dawes
Sylvie Veness

Alison Clouston
Brenda Livermore
Anita Larkin
Luba Bosch
Linda Dening
Sassy Park
Kylie Douglass
Gitte Backhausen
Ebony Russell
Erin Griffiths
Adrienne Richards
Jacqueline Cavallaro
Judy Panucci
Carolynne Gordon
Kaye Shumack
Sherna Teperson
Nicolette Eisdell

22 September 2018 - 30 March 2019

Meroogal Women's Art Prize 2018 gallery

Winner, Meroogal Women's Art Prize 2018: Tamara Dean, 'Transience'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal.

Second place, Meroogal Women's Art Prize 2018: Kim Davies, 'Carpet moth'

Highly commended, Meroogal Women's Art Prize 2018: Beth Norling, 'Not all things are washed away'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal. Unfired clay, twigs, poster paint.

Robyn Bannon, 'Shock of the bloom'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal. Watercolour and pencil on cotton rag

Zuza Zochowski, 'House on the hill'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal. Perforated paper in frame.

Sylvie Veness, 'Affinity'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal. In frame on wall.

Mary van den Berk, 'Meroogal garden & chooks'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal. Pair of 'shoes' in glass dome on bench.

Sherna Teperson, 'Soft shuffle through Meroogal'

Wendy Sharpe, 'House of secrets'

Terhi Hakola, 'The door'

Ebony Russell, 'Idle embellishment'

Adrienne Richards, 'Cherish set'

Sassy Park, 'Lady, nurse and suffragette'

Cathy Ball, 'Best Intentions #1'

Cathy Ball, Best Intentions #2

Brenda Livermoore, 'Shall we have tea'

Luba Bosch, 'A cosy threesome'

Alison Clouston, 'Red house'

Liz Clark, 'Reflections'

Jacqueline Cavallaro, 'Stars of thought'

Lisa Maris McDonell, 'softly softly'

Gitte Backhausen, 'Playtime'

Linda Dening, 'Cycle'

Anita Larkin, 'Kindred'

Erin Griffiths, 'The Meroogal story collar'

Carolynne Gordon, 'Mender Bender', cotton, linen, wool

Kath Fries, 'Respire'

Nicolette Eisdell, 'Bedroom @ Meroogal, Oil on wood panel

Kylie Douglas, 'Womandala'

Megan Dixon-Dawes, 'Where they sat'

Kaye Schumack, 'Belle feeding hens in back paddock'

Artwork photographed in situ at Meroogal. Image in frame.

Wendy Miller, "Coverup #2"

Judy Panucci, 'Keep/Forsake'

Judith Martinez, 'The visitants'

Anita Larkin, 'Longing'

Penny Sudabin, 'Interior landscape of the garden shed'

Tania Maria Mastroianni, 'Under the jacaranda tree and other visitations'

Latest news from Meroogal

Meroogal

International Women’s Day Awards Shoalhaven 2019Thursday 31 January 2019

The everyday achievements of women in the Shoalhaven are at the heart of what makes Meroogal a fascinating house museum.

Handwritten letter with handwritten envelope on top.

Meroogal

Armistice Day: ‘the bells are ringing’Friday 9 November 2018

In early November 1918, Australians knew that the end of World War I was imminent and that an armistice was about to be signed between Germany and the Allies. After some false reports and premature peace rejoicings, the armistice was finally signed in France at 5am on Monday 11 November and came into effect at 11am Paris time. Reverend Tom Thorburn, Presbyterian minister, described how events unfolded in a letter written a few days later to his sister Tot Thorburn at Meroogal in Nowra.